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Finisar and Xyratex Demonstrate 12G SAS Embedded Optical Interconnect Within Data Centre Subsystem at ECOC 2012
[September 17, 2012]

Finisar and Xyratex Demonstrate 12G SAS Embedded Optical Interconnect Within Data Centre Subsystem at ECOC 2012


(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS and SUNNYVALE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/17/12 -- Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR), a market leader in high-speed optical communications, and Xyratex Ltd (NASDAQ: XRTX), a leading provider of data storage technology, today announced a joint technology demonstration at the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) 2012 exhibition from September 17 through September 19, 2012 at the RAI Conference Centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.



Finisar and Xyratex will demonstrate, along with HUBER+SUHNER, vario-optics, and LSI Corporation, embedded optical connectivity within a 12 Gb/s enabled data storage enclosure showing how optical links carry 12G SAS traffic between internal controllers via polymer optical waveguides. Embedded optical interconnect solutions are designed to meet the burgeoning demand in data capacity, bandwidth and accessibility in future cloud and enterprise data centres and are expected to overcome the projected performance bottleneck in data storage subsystems.

The demonstration leverages Finisar's board-mounted optical assemblies (BOA), a new optics technology that is mounted on a board much like an IC and provides the lowest power and highest bandwidth density available in the industry. The BOA is protocol agnostic and supports up to 24 lanes of SAS, PCIe, InfiniBand, and Ethernet as well as proprietary protocols enabling an entirely new ecosystem of backplane applications, as well as high speed interconnects for supercomputers, servers, and switches.


"Finisar is pleased to collaborate with these partners to showcase our board-mounted optics technology for up to 28 Gb/s," said Rafik Ward, Vice-President of Marketing at Finisar. "With the ever-increasing demands for bandwidth in optical communications networks, we believe that our BOA technology provides the most innovative and practical solution available today." Xyratex's joint demonstration of a prototype OneStorâ„¢ enclosure will take place within Finisar's booth at the event. The prototype exhibit focuses on how optical interconnects are successfully implemented in SAS architectures and will showcase Xyratex's next generation 12G SAS controllers, Finisar's optical engines, vario-optic's polymer waveguides, HUBER+SUHNER's optical backplane connectors, and LSI®'s 12G expander technologies.

"Xyratex believes that preparing for the Cloud and Exascale eras requires new innovation in storage platforms," said Alex Worrall, Director of Architecture at Xyratex. "Through working with Finisar and our other partners, we are able to demonstrate real-world applications and start to move these new technologies out of the lab and into actual solutions." Visit Finisar and Xyratex at Finisar's booth #500 at ECOC 2012 in Amsterdam.

For further information about Finisar's Board-mount Optical Assembly technology, please contact [email protected]. For information regarding the ECOC exhibition, visit www.ecocexhibition.com.

About Finisar Finisar Corporation (NASDAQ: FNSR) is a global technology leader of fiber optic subsystems and components that enable high-speed voice, video and data communications for networking, storage, wireless, and cable TV applications. For more than 20 years, Finisar has provided critical optics technologies to system manufacturers to meet the increasing demands for network bandwidth and storage. Finisar is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, USA with R&D, manufacturing sites, and sales offices worldwide. For additional information, visit www.finisar.com. Stay up to date with Finisar by reading the Lightspeed blog and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, and the Finisar YouTube Channel.

About Xyratex Xyratex is a leading provider of data storage technology, including modular solutions for the enterprise data storage industry and hard disk drive (HDD) capital equipment for the HDD industry. Xyratex enterprise data storage platforms provide a range of advanced, scalable data storage solutions for the Original Equipment Manufacturer and High Performance Computing communities. As the largest capital equipment supplier to the HDD industry, Xyratex enables disk drive manufacturers and their component suppliers to meet today's technology and productivity requirements. Xyratex has over 25 years of experience in research and development relating to disk drives, storage systems and manufacturing process technology.

Founded in 1994 in an MBO from IBM, and with headquarters in the UK, Xyratex has an established global base with R&D and operational facilities in North America, Asia and Europe.

Follow and connect with Xyratex at www.xyratex.com as well as its Storage Insights Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Xyratex YouTube Channel and Facebook pages.

Finisar is a registered trademark of Finisar Corporation. All other company names are the property of their respective holders.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Finisar Corporation Victoria McDonald Corporate Communications +1 (408) 542-4261 [email protected] Xyratex Ltd Mike Stolz Vice-President of Marketing +1 (952) 303-4780 [email protected] Source: Finisar

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